Our Castle

So, as mentioned before, David Bailey I am not....and here are the photos to prove it. I would like to blame my tools but I suspect it wouldn't matter how great my camera was, the photos would still be crap!  So, please look past the poor photography....and the unpatched walls......and the massive expanses of boring cream and white....and think of all the possibilities that are 3 Diosma Place......aka our Castle.  So called because, according to legend, every Aussie's home is their Castle.   I'm happy with that!

Here is the view from the garage onto our deck at the back







This is our shiny new outdoor lounge, my current favourite place to be.....preferably with a glass of wine in hand.

As you come in the front door this is the view down the hallway.....you can play the feline version of "Where's Wally" as you go through these photos....Maggie's the shining pair of eyes centre stage.  We're trying to train the cats to be ferocious guard moggies but are failing miserably.







Once you get to the end of the hallway there is a large open plan area that is the sitting room, kitchen and dining area.  Here's the sitting room to the left.









And here is the other perspective looking from the sitting room area back to the kitchen and dining area.





Once you walk past the dining area you will find my study (it is through those three gaps in the wall at the other end of the picture above).  It's lovely and light and I find myself actually wanting to spend time in there.  Hence the sudden enthusiasm for getting the blog going again!

This is a photo of the master bedroom.  We don't have a door! What you can see the chest of drawers up against is a wall, that sits 3 foot in front of the bedroom wall, like a screen.  It isn't as bad as it sounds, although that's very easy to say when it is just the two of us....





This is our magnificent walk in wardrobe and the ensuite off our bedroom.  So far I haven't managed to fill all the drawer and cupboard space....but it gives me a great target to work towards!







This is one of the spare rooms (we have three!) which now houses the pull-out bed and all our books.

One of the other spare rooms has become Ryan's office since he works from home.  Can you guess who he works for?!!!

I haven't taken a photo of the 4th bedroom as it currently just has a bed in it....with all our washing on it, and you don't need to see that!

 

Lastly, here is a picture of the main bathroom....if you need an incentive to come visit please take note of the sunken bath which is great for hot Poms to clamber into up to their necks after a day in the Aussie sunshine (it's been tested by the resident Pom).  We may not have a pool....but this could work as a substitute until you can be bothered to walk to the 4 minutes to the local pool.

Delayed Transmission

Hello and apologies to all of you who happily told us you'd keep an eye on A Schooner of New to see what we've been up to and get a feel for life over here..............we failed rather badly at keeping it up to date for the past 6 months didn't we!!!

So, new year = New Year's resolutions.  And guess what one of them is - that's right - start posting on the blog.  And so, here I am on January the 15th (I know, it's only taken me two weeks) sitting down to put a post or two on the blog.  You've probably forgotten all about it by now, or at least given up hope of there ever being anything on it apart from a picture of my new handbag!  Hopefully that will not be the case for much longer.

A lot has happened since August when we conceived the idea of A Schooner of New so there is lots to tell you. The biggest one is that we bought a house! So, you guessed it, that will be the next post.  I shall be spending the weekend taking photos and you can expect to see something by Sunday night.  Now don't get too excited, David Bailey I am not, but I'm sure I can take some reasonable ones of a few sofas!

Handbags, not gladrags.

And now let's see if I can work out how to post pictures.

So for the viewing pleasure of all the ladies, feast your eyes on this Longchamp beauty. Yay!!

I have now officially signing up to Addicted to Handbags (not so) Anonymous

And so it begins.....

So dear friends and family, we have decided it's about time we got with it and started our own blog. Having had the intention of starting one for a good 18 months now we have finally put our money squarely in the vicinity of our gobs and signed up.

It has taken us a while to come up with a name we liked and having finally decided, hope you will appreciate that it not only points to a pastime we are particularly fond of, but also quite nicely describes life in Australia for us. This, I suspect is about as clear as gravy to those residing in the UK but hopefully not too far fetched for the Aussies. So, Poms, let us explain......

"What is a schooner?" I hear you ask. It is the standard Australian beer carrying vessel favored by most.

Think:

• a vertically challenged pint, or;
• a pint for those who need to get it down quickly before it goes warm in the sun, or;
• a training aid for numerous Aussies before they venture off to the motherland to drink copious pints of lager.

It is in fact, 425 ml. So in comparison to the great British pint which regally stands at 568 ml, a schooner will only get you 75% of your favourite poison at Gymea Hotel (our local) compared to a pint at The Queens Head. Having said that, for little people like me it works rather well as it takes 4 Schooners rather than 3 pints before I think the bouncers find me amusing and the beer rarely gets the opportunity to go warm!

Oh, and it's also a boat. But I can't say that we come into much contact with that sort of schooner on as regular a basis.

Now for the "new" part. I'm sure you will have cottoned on to the fact that being in Australia is, in itself, new. Well, at least for me it is (even though I've now been living here for just over two and a half years). It is also the standard cry you'll hear at an Aussie bar. Sorry to dispel long established English preconceptions but.......wait for it.......Aussies don't drink Fosters. In fact, you can't buy it in a pub over here. To make matters worse for some visiting Brits, real ale is just a British myth and cider comes in a bottle.  So what does one drink whilst in Australia?

They drink Toohey's New.

So there you go folks. A Schooner of New